Page 3 of Sinful Attraction

“Damn. Well, I’m not gonna be petty about it if she wants to stay friends, especially online. So don’t worry about it.” I take a swallow of my beer.

“I feel way out of touch.”

“You were vacationing with your family for the last two and a half months, bro. Don’t even worry about it. I get out of touch sometimes myself. It happens.” Another swallow of my beer.

“When do you think you’ll start dating again?”

I scoff. “Hell. Guess it depends on how lucky I get in finding someone. I really need to be careful about the next one. No more goddamn daddy’s girls, no more drama queens, and no more selfish girls. Holy shit.”

“That means getting to know ‘em. Think you can pry away from your computer long enough for some serious dating time?” he teases me.

I shake my head. “Just call me a nerd and be done with it.” Everyone in the family was on me about my lack of a steady relationship at 30. At least Billy has been just poking fun.

“So, if those princess types aren’t your type,” he asked after draining his bottle, “what is?”

I didn’t have to think about it long.Leanne’s cousin, Arya. A fucking gorgeous nerd girl who thinks we’re competitors and can’t stand me because of that. If she had so much as smiled at me before now, I would have left Leanne and her bratty garbage for her in a hot second.

I had been drawn to Arya ever since we first met at one of the Don’s events back when I was a junior in college. She was afreshman and one of the only people in the entire school who could keep up with me in computer science.

She has a hell of a lot of raw talent, she works hard, and she is so goddamn smart. The problem has been, from the moment we met, that she has apparently seen me as a rival who doesn’t take her seriously.

I guess she isn’t one for banter or teasing. Maybe it’s a sore spot for her somehow. But damn it, ever since those early days she had—and has—acted like I’m personally out to make her look bad as her family’s computer person.

I wasn’t. I’m not. When I thought of her, I thought of a house with a giant computer setup and a couple of nerd kids. Hell, sometimes, I still do.

But other times, I just think about screwing that brittle, angry attitude right out of her. I think about spending the whole damn night making her shake with pleasure. I think about waking up to her and starting all over again.

Instead, I send her teasing emails to try and goad her into answering back, and I keep an eye out for her at big family gatherings, though she never seems to let me get near her. She acts like I’m some obnoxious dude who can’t take a hint. Maybe I am a little, except for the obnoxious part. But I am definitely stuck on her.

Back when I was dating, I had managed to bury the feeling and focus on my partner. But now that I’m not, she’s on my minda whole hell of a lot again. Not just while I’m awake. I’ve even started having sex dreams about her again.

I lick my lips, pushing the memories of thosereally fucking hotdreams away. “Well, there’s someone who sure fits the bill. Problem is, she hates me and probably thinks I’m an asshole.”

“You kinda are, bro.” But his eyes are dancing.

I roll my eyes. “No, I mean a real asshole. The kind who looks down on her and wants to give her a hard time. She doesn’t even take banter well.”

“So? Neither does my wife. Don’t banter at women unless they start it. Some of them are good at it, but a lot really don’t like it.”

I frown thoughtfully. “Well, you’re the one with the good marriage. I’ll see about dropping that kinda bullshit when I try to talk to her again.” At this point, I’ll try anything, even cutting back on the sarcasm.

When I get back online later this afternoon, there’s an email waiting for me that I wasn’t expecting. Two months ago, my father got my help inserting a new maid into the Castellucci household to act as our spy. I didn’t like doing it, but Arya’s fucking parents are overambitious and sometimes aggressive about it. We have clashed with them over territory for years.

Now, though, the spy has found something and sent me an encrypted email about it from an Internet café. I peer at it, a frown deepening on my face. “Shit.”

Arya is about to do something superambitious: an electronic heist pulled on a billionaire. Not a huge amount by billionaire standards, just $5 million, but definitely enough to give the Castelluccis an edge in the funding department. And if her method actually works, she can use it over and over again on people so ridiculously wealthy that they might not even notice.

I don’t even know how she’s going to pull it off. I wish I could get right into the code she’s using and examine every line because this isn’t just ambitious; it is incredibly difficult to pull off. Hacking overseas banking and wire transfer systems is also dangerous. It’s a good way to end up at a government black site somewhere, with guys with no insignias on their uniforms.

But if she can really get in, get out with the money, and not get caught, I want to see that.

I have to report this to my father. The maid we placed is technically his source, not mine. But I’m not looking forward to it. I’m actually pretty damn worried about what he’s going to do—or make me do—when he finds out.

I really don’t want to give Arya any more reasons to hate me.

My father calls me into his office after dinner, and I bring him the printout of the email. My father is barely computer literate. He wants everything printed out, written out, or called in. No emails, no messenger, no texts, not even encrypted. He doesn’t really trust any of it.

Fortunately, he trusts me.

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